How to Install GridSim in Ubuntu (in 3 easy steps)

The contents of this DIY has been tested on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x64 with GridSim 5.2 beta and JDK8u11 x64. It should work similarly on other distros of Ubuntu and for different version of JDK as long as you use Java version 1.5 or newer. The text shown in RED in the DIY represents the values that will differ depending upon your JDK version and locations.

GridSim is a simulation toolkit for simulating resource modelling and application scheduling for parallel and distributed computing. Simulation is the only feasible way to analyse algorithms on large-scale distributed systems of heterogeneous resources. In this DIY we will see how to install GridSim in Ubuntu easily and efficiently. A more detailed description, APIs and research papers related to GridSim can be found here. Let us begin.


Step 1: Setting up the Prerequisites

1. First of all we need to download the GridSim and latest version of the Java Development Toolkit (JDK). GridSim can be found here.

2. GridSim requires a working Java installation. So, open up a terminal and run the following

1 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
2 sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

It will take some time to download and install so sit back and wait. Once it’s done then we have to add the JAVA_HOME to the Ubuntu environment. Run the following in a terminal to open up the /etc/environment file.

1 sudo gedit /etc/environment

Now, append the following at the end of the file and save it:

JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle"

3. Now its time to install the GridSim. Unpack the downloaded 'GridSim5-2.zip' (let the name of the unpacked folder be 'GridSim'). As you can see there is no makefile or install file inside the folder so it doesn't need to be compiled. Later if you want to remove the GridSim, just remove the whole 'GridSim' directory.


Step 2: Setting up the Environment

Now comes the critical part, the most important part of the GridSim setup is the setting up the paths to different classes and jar files correctly or you won't be able to run your programs efficiently.

We need to set the 'CLASSPATH' variable which will contain the location of the class files and will be used by the GridSim while executing an application. So we have to set two consecutive locations first one is the location of gridsim.jar file provided in the GridSim and is used exclusively by the GridSim applications and second one is the location where we have stored our programs.

We will set the CLASSPATH in the .bashrc file of the current user so open a terminal and run the following

1 sudo gedit /home/dhyan/.bashrc

Provide the password and add the following lines at the end of the opened file and save it.

CLASSPATH=".:/home/dhyan/Desktop/GridSim/jars/*:
/home/dhyan/Desktop/GridSim/examples"
export CLASSPATH

Now we need to reload the .bashrc file so close the all opened terminals (if any) and run the following

1 source ~/.bashrc


Step 3: Testing the Setup (Compiling and Executing a GridSim Application)

Finally now we can test whether our installation is successful or not. GridSim includes some test example programs in the 'GridSim\examples\gridsim\' folder that we can use to test our setup.

1. Compiling a GridSim program: If you have followed this DIY then compiling a GridSim program is pretty straightforward; the basic syntax for compilation is just similar to that of Java programs i.e. javac filename.java or javac file_location/filename.java. Let us compile the Example2.java included in 'GridSim/examples/gridsim/example02/' folder. We will now run the following command in a new command prompt

1 javac /home/dhyan/Desktop/GridSim/examples/gridsim/example02/Example2.java

2. Running the compiled program: The syntax for running a compiled GridSim program is similar to that of running a program in Java i.e. java filename. In our case we have to type (see image 1)

1 java gridsim.example02.Example2

OR if you want to save the output of your program to a file you can use the following

1 java gridsim.example02.Example2 > output.txt

Note: The examples given in the GridSim uses the concept of packages hence it is advisable to go through the basics of packages in Java for a better understanding of the above stated commands.

Image 1. Setup Test Successful.


Some Important Points

  • It is important to set the CLASSPATH correctly, if you make any mistake you might get a class not found error and if you want to supply the classpath externally while compiling or executing using -cp or -classpath then for some reason it might not work and you would still get the same errors.
  • Remember to change the CLASSPATH values if you later decide to move gridsim.jar file or location of your own programs to some other location; accordingly.
  • Running GridSim requires a lot of memory since there are many objects to be created. Therefore, it is recommended to have at least 512 MB RAM or increase JVM heap size when running Java for large simulation experiments. For example to set max. heap size as 300 MB:

1 java -Xmx300m gridsim.example02.Example2

  • You can also use GridSim with the Eclipse IDE, JBuilder or JCreator. For more instructions you might want to head here.
  • For more information kindly refer the readme.txt and faq.txt provided with the GridSim.

Goodluck !
— * — * — * — * —

2 comments:

  1. plz give solution
    i got blow error

    Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: -javaagent:/usr/share/java/jayatanaag.jar
    Error: Could not find or load main class gridsim.example02.Example2

    ReplyDelete
  2. sir i have problem with bashrc file. while i open bash file i got empty file. i did't get any program lines to configure hadoop.

    ReplyDelete